Disney Streaming Prices; iPhone Release Date; Google WiFi 6 Hardware Coming; Amazon-AR Headset to Guide Delivery People

Disney has announced that it will offer a bundle for its 3 streaming services….Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. The fee will be $12.99 a month starting on November 12th. According to theverge.com, the announcement was made over a Disney investor call yesterday by CEO Bob Iger. That price point will be competitive with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and will be significantly cheaper than HBO Max’s rumored stream price of $16-$17 a month. No word on international pricing or bundling as yet, but for the US, we now know the figure. Disney+ will be available stand alone for $6.99 a month.

Every year, there is plenty of speculation about the date for Apple’s iPhone event…although it generally has been the third week of September the past few years. Now, bgr.com reports that by doing some sleuthing, the date has been nailed down. It has to do with a new law going into effect in Japan on October 1st. The new law will make wireless carriers unbundle devices and service plans. Carriers there have been bundling only the most expensive plans with the most popular smartphones. (Sound familiar?) At a SoftBank event, the SoftBank president, Ken Miyauchi, was asked how the law might affect Apple’s September iPhone launch. What he said (translated) was this: ‘Honestly, I am wondering what should I do for 10 days. No, I shouldn’t say that. Anyway, I don’t know when the new iPhone will be released. However, after about 10 days, it will be unbundled.’ If you could back 10 days from October 1st….BINGO! You get September 20th. That’s about when most expected the new iPhones to go on sale, but now it’s pretty well confirmed! This would put the likely date of the apple event on Wednesday, September 11th.

Lots has been leaked about the new Pixel 4 and Pixelbook 2 to be rolled out at Google’s Made by Google event, but here’s something new….they may have a Google Home revamp to reveal, too. 9to5google.com says it looks like there is at least one device coming with new Google WiFi hardware and WiFi 6 support. The device could include a two-in-one WiFi router plus smart speaker device. It seem like such a device would also have Google Assistant built in. Of course, this could all be speculation and vapor…we’ll have to wait until the Made by Google event coming up this Fall before we know for sure.

An Amazon patent schematic has been uncovered that shows how info about a delivery drop-off location might be overlaid on the display of an augmented reality headset for delivery people. According to geekwire.com, the patent also details alerting the delivery agent about the best times for delivery, best routes to take, and even the best places for parking. All of this would be overlaid in the AR headset! Most delivery folks learn a lot of this as they drive their routes, but with the AR headset taking it all in, a substitute driver could wear the headset and deliver just as efficiently as the regular route person. Delivery agents could also post tips and cautions that would go to the server and pop up to warn a sub about different issues.